This invention relates to the reloading of firearm cartridges and in particular to a seating die for use in a conventional reloading press.
Many avid hunters and bench shooters prefer to reload their cartridges in an effort to attain greater accuracy. A reloading press is conventionally used for this purpose. Typically, the press contains a stationary head for supporting one or more dies used in the reloading process and a coacting movable ram for moving cartridges in and out of the dies. One important aspect of the reloading process is the ability to properly seat a bullet within a cartridge casing to attain a desired depth of penetration of the bullet into the neck of the casing. It is important that the bullet be axially aligned with the casing as it enters the neck of the casing. Any misalignment between the bullet and the casing will result in the casing material becoming distorted and the bullet being improperly seated in assembly. This, of course, renders the cartridge unsuitable for firing and oftentimes damages the casing to a point where it can not be reloaded.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,546 there is disclosed a seating die for use in a reloading press. The die contains a free floating seating tool that can move both axially and radially within the die housing. The tool has a recess that is adapted to engage and capture the nose section of a bullet as it moves upwardly, into the die. After capturing the nose of the bullet, the tool is driven upwardly against a stop. This arrests the forward progress of the bullet and allows it to be inserted into the neck of a shell that is moved upwardly into seating contact with the bullet casing. The floating tool concept works quite well but on occasion, the tool shifts off axis thus allowing the bullet to become misaligned with respect to the casing. Driving the misaligned bullet into the casing usually damages the neck of the casing and renders the cartridge unsuitable for firing.
A bullet seating die is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,440,923 which includes a stationary cylindrical housing that contains a slidable sleeve member. An adjustable seating tool is mounted in the top portion of the housing upon a slender shank. The tool is arranged to ride in a bore formed in the sleeve. The seating tool has a recess that is adapted to capture the tip of a bullet as it and the shell casing are moved upwardly by the ram into the sleeve. The bullet is initially driven into contact against the seating tool thereby terminating its upward motion. The casing, however, continues its upward motion whereupon the bullet is forced into the neck of the casing. A good deal of force is required to properly seat the bullet in the shell casing. Often times these forces are sufficiently high enough to produce bending in the tool supporting shank. Any slight bending of the shank will cause the bullet to be improperly seated in the casing and thus render the cartridge unusable. Bending of the shank can also cause tool breakage.
Many shooters, and in particular, bench shooters, who reload their own shells are very particular about the exact depth to which any particular bullet is inserted within a casing. However, most of the available dies in use are not equipped with means for allowing the depth of bullet penetration into the casing to be set and maintained with any degree of accuracy.